


Queen Slash Freeway

by TranslucentAirlines



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Cities, Kingdom of Mewni, Multi, Oklahoma, Other, Personified Cities, Sad Star Butterfly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-08 05:42:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11640111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TranslucentAirlines/pseuds/TranslucentAirlines
Summary: In 2024, six years after the Battle of Mewni, Star Butterfly has gotten used to being on her own in a huge city in Oklahoma. She has a job, she has a car, and an apartment. She has all but mastered Earth culture.If only she could see some familiar faces once in a while. Oh that's right . . .





	1. Shiver

**Author's Note:**

> This work is inspired by a short-story I saw on DeviantArt after watching "The Battle for Mewni". That movie turned me into a huge fan of Star Butterfly. Holy moly she's awesome!
> 
> I've been catching up on the first two season over the last couple days trying to get my research in. I'm not sure about a couple things and this is my first time actually posting something here, so any constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thank you and please enjoy reading!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Star feels something. On all levels.

**"Shiver" \ Chapter One**

THE DARK MAGIC WATER SLAMS her around as she desperately swims towards the faint yellow glimmer of her magic. Suddenly the yellow starts to disappear.

"Wait," she gasps. "No, come back! No no no no no!"

The magic fades into the dark liquid. Frantically, Star looks around her. Nothing. She slaps the magic pink hearts on her cheeks to reveal more magic, and she spots another glimmer in the distance.

"Yes, yes!" she says excitedly. "Okay, just! Stay there!"

She starts to swim for it but it disappears as well. She groans in disbelief, and then a wave crashes over her, tumbling her head over heels. She emerges to the surface a short time later, ready to accept her defeat. Just then, her cheek hearts illuminate again, and she sees more magic - deep beneath the surface of the living liquid.

Star takes a deep breath, and with all her strength she dives underwater in a last-ditch effort to retrieve some of the remaining magic. She swims like her life depends on it. She realizes she needs to resurface for air, but she knows that if she does, she may never escape from . . . this place.

The yellow glimmer of magic flickers and disappears. Star screams in desperation, releasing a thick stream of bubbles from her tortured lungs.

No longer knowing which way is up, she swims blindly, coughing out more valuable air. Her lungs are empty. Finally, she inhales, and the darkness encircles her completely.

\- - - -

_Monday July 29, 2024 – 714am Central Daylight Time_

Star sits straight up in her bed abruptly, gasping. Her long hair flies forward with the momentum and then gets yanked back, falling haphazardly across her face. Taking a deep breath, she looks around her.

She is in her bed. Her headboard lays against the south wall. Her dark-red curtains draped around the bed. Massive windows are on the east side of the room, to the right of her bed. A desk with a large mirror above it, on the west wall, to the left of the bed. A walk-in closet on the right side of the desk. The north wall of her bedroom is covered with pictures of her and . . . a friend from her past, having a nice time together. The north wall ends on the right side with a short hallway leading to the door of her bedroom.

Star inhales and exhales shakily, trying to clear the horrible dream out of her head. Her breathing is finally beginning to slow down to normal pace. Star stretches her arms out and yawns. A painful memories invades her head, and she shoves it away.

She slowly gets up out of her bed. She swings her long slender legs over the edge of her bed and slides herself off of it, letting her feet take the weight of her body.

It is cloudy today. «Cloudier than usual,» Star thinks to herself, like the day is ripe for rain. It may explain why she keeps having this same dream. She has this dream every time the rains come.

Since the day she became trapped inside her wand by her Whispering Spell, she has been afraid of water. Afraid of everything. The rain does not bother her, in and of itself, but this recurring dream has made her afraid.

She had never been plagued by this level of fright before that day.

Subconsciously she glances at her mirror and then starts to get up. Then she looks again at the mirror, more closely this time. A tiny orange square beckons to her.

Star stands and shuffles to the desk. The tiny square on the mirror is marked with a message, which in her handwriting says < _visit Mommy today_ >.

Star sighs when she reads her own words. It pains her to have to think about her mother again.

"Don't make me think of her," she says silently, on the verge of tears, as she covers up the dark-red broken-heart marks on her cheeks.

Star hears a ruffling sound coming from behind her. She turns. Her Butterfly family wand, the one she received from her mother Queen Moon,  is sitting on the desk.

She closes her eyes. "I don't want to."

The wand rattles.

"It can wait until later, I just wanna go back to sleep."

The wand rattles a little more violently in response, causing itself to move a couple inches across the desk. Star gasps softly. Her eyes widen a bit with a deep thought.

Suddenly, a wave of cold surges through her entire body, literally taking her breath away for several seconds. Star is unable to breathe. The cold wave seems to be choking her. She leans against her desk for support, again finding herself in a battle for air. At last, the remaining coldness slips away through her legs and then her feet.

As the shock disappears completely, Star inhales raggedly. She looks at herself in the mirror, then at her wand, then back at the mirror, all the while slowly backing away towards her bed, which she nearly forgets is there and trips on.

Breathing heavily, tears in her eyes, Star stares at her wand on her desk, puts a hand over her chest, and mutters to herself, " _Shiver_."


	2. Between Earth and Mewni

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Star wants to check a couple things out.

**QUEEN SLASH FREEWAY**

**Between Earth and Mewni – Chapter Two**

_Monday July 29, 2024 – 732amCDT_  

* * *

STAR TAKES A SHOWER TO CLEANSE HER BODY OF THE water in her nightmare. She stares at herself in the mirror as she dresses herself up. Having long ago outgrown her green childhood dress, she has decided today on a dark-purple blouse with her new broken-heart emblem across her chest in white, and dark-blue jeans with faded thighs.

She hears her neighbors bumping a bad rap song on repeat in the next room.   
  
"Damn neighbors," Star murmurs to herself.  
  
She combs her shoulder-length hair and then slides on her purple headband. The headband is decorated with two purple broken-hearts, each one sitting on top of a gel-like purple stalk. It has been several years since she was transformed from a cute, happy-go-lucky girl to a beautiful, grown, and somewhat-saddened woman.  
  
Star was devastated when she found that Toffee had healed and returned to her life. She felt that she could keep Earth and her family safe by distancing herself from them.  
  
Toffee was nursed back to health by his army in the Tree dimension and began destroying entire towns. For some reason, a reason Star has pretty sure of but not completely sure of, Toffee had spared Butterfly Castle.  
  
She knows he is planning destroying the castle because he had mentioned it so many times. Strangely enough, Toffee last made that threat six years ago. The attack never came.  
  
In the meantime, Star has grown. Well at least physically. She has managed to secure a job at a giant shopping mall in Oklahoma. While she likes her life in the big city, she longs to be with  Marco and Janna and Jackie again. She would never in her right mind admit her feelings for Marco to his face, but she knows in her heart that she may need to return to them some day. Every day that passes makes her heart ache for the shy, bashful California boy she shared many of her greatest memories with.  
  
She sighs. "Marco." The word sounds so beautiful to her.  
  
Star looks at her wand and says, "Maybe today's that day, huh?"  
  
The wand rattles in response.

"I hope I'm making the right choice."

\- - - -

Mercedes, the largest city in Oklahoma, is home to over 900-thousand people. Founded in 2014, the city is growing faster than any other city on Earth.  
  
The Robin Freeway is the second largest freeway in Mercedes. Four lanes wide in each direction for its entire 30-mile length.  
  
This freeway also serves as a portal between Earth and Mewni. Star had placed it strategically on the shoulder of the freeway near Exit 17 years ago for if she ever needed to return to Mewni again. Nobody else knows about it except her.  
  
Star drives her white Toyota Camry along the shoulder at a speed of 65 miles per hour and enters the portal.  
  
For a few seconds she drives through a black void, but then the blackness fades into the pink-and-yellow sky of Mewni.  
  
Since the giant monster scare during the battle to retake the kingdom from Ludo, the city around Butterfly Castle has been rebuilt and massively overhauled. The roads have been widened and paved with asphalt, just like on Earth. Apartment complexes, houses, and small businesses now dot the land, along with countless, beautiful trees.  
  
So far, the city’s population has only grown to 70-thousand, and many of these people still make heavy use a horse-drawn carriages. The roads are all only being used to a quarter of their design capacity. The only way to get in the city is on a six-lane road called Janna Way. And the city has ten six-lane roads crisscrossing it, along with a number of five-lane one-way roads near the Butterfly Castle.  
  
Star pulls up alongside the gates of the castle. She turns off the engine, steps out, and then takes her dimensional scissors out of her hair. She steps in front of the car and slices the air before her, opening up another black void. Then she removes her wand from her waist holster, steps to the side, and aims the wand at the back of the car.  
  
"Massive-Matter-Moving-Pressure!" she recites. An orange beam of energy leaps from the wand and surrounds the car. Star holds the wand in both hands, guiding the car into the void. Once the car is completely in the void, she turns away and walks through the gates, allowing the void to seal itself with a magical harp tone.

\- - - -

A distraught Queen Moon Butterfly is pacing back and forth in the Situation Room.

"It isn't possible," she rambles to herself. "He's been in the Void for years. Nothing's even in the Void. He cannot have grown that powerful that fast."  
  
She stops pacing and hugs herself, as if she is cold. "The Shiver was so strong. Whatever happened must have alerted everybody in Mewni." She sighs and sits down at the table.  
  
"Oh, Star, I miss you. So much."  
  
Suddenly, a slight numb feeling surges through the Queen. She knows this means somebody is at the door, so she rises and checks.  
  
She opens it, and her eyes instantly grow wide. "Star!"  
  
Star, who has her back to the door, whirls around. "Mommy?"  
  
Queen Butterfly lunges, grasps her daughter in a tight hug, and bursts into tears. "Oh Star!"  
  
"Mommy, what's wrong? I'm okay!"  
  
Queen Moon's hug only gets tighter. "Oh my baby! You came back! Oh my baby!"  
  
Star is getting used to the hug, and she wraps her arms around her mother as well, closing her eyes to absorb this moment.  
  
Finally Queen Moon releases Star from her hug, and holds her shoulders with each hand. "I've been so worried about you my baby."  
  
Star shrugs out of her mother's grip and snaps back to focus. "Why were you so worried? I'm okay. I'm here, I'm okay."  
  
Queen Moon says, "Did you feel the Shiver?"  
  
Star's hand flies up to her mouth and she gasps, nodding her head.  
  
"How exactly did it happen to you?" Queen Moon presses.  
  
"It was cold, and it chilled my whole body, and I felt like it was choking me."  
  
Queen Moon looks at the ground, appearing to be thinking. "It happened to me like that too. Star, something is going to happen. Something I think may involve Ludo."  
  
Star's brows furrow in shock. "No, 'cause he's in the Void."  
  
"Ludo may have figured out how to reemerge from the Void. I was going to give you a call but then you actually showed up."  
  
The middle-aged Queen's eyes fill with tears. "Star, it's been so long. I've missed you. Why didn't you come back sooner?"  
  
It is Star's turn to watch the ground now, and she is not pleased with the sudden subject change. Struggling to find words to answer with, she finally says, "You . . . know why . . . Mother."  
  
"I couldn't have known your transformation wouldn't completely kill Toffee. That was not in my control. Even then Marco didn't wasn't in control of that either, so he certainly didn't deserve your horrific reaction."  
  
Star knows she will not win this argument. "No Mommy, he didn't. But it's to late now. He's happy with Jackie. He has a job and his own place, and his own car. What do I have? An apartment and my car."  
  
"Star," says Queen Moon. Star continues.  
  
"With a shower I can only use for five minutes before the water gets cold."  
  
"Star – "  
  
"And some neighbors who like to blast annoying music at 2-o'clock in the morning."  
  
" _Star_!" Queen Moon cuts in.  
  
" ** _What_?!** "  
  
Queen Moon holds Star's shoulders again. "You have _me_!" she says softly. "I love you. I'm still you're mother. You're father's gone. You are _all_ I have _left_."  
  
Star's eyes are tearing up this time. "I'm sorry."  
  
Queen Moon nods once in acknowledgement.  
  
Star is suddenly reminded then of the threat Toffee made six years ago. She has a realization.  
  
"Mom, remember when Toffee told us only he makes the plans and he only knows how it 'all turns out'?"  
  
"Eh, that wouldn't be my fondest memory of him."  
  
"You don't have any fond memories of him. But whatever. Um, Ludo and Toffee used to work together. Ludo kept coming to Earth to steal my wand. Toffee overthrew Ludo and inherited his castle and Monsters. Then Ludo came back with an army of rats. Then we defeated Toffee and the rats and put Ludo back in the Void."  
  
"And this has what to with the Shiver?" Queen Butterfly presses.  
  
Star begins pacing as she speaks, using motions of her hands to amplify her words. "Ludo told me to put him in the Void so he could  – " she motions her quotation fingers – "'find myself'. That's probably what he's doing. After he and I killed Toffee the first time by destroying my old wand, I put Ludo in the Void. He came back with a Spider and a Bald Eagle as allies. After we killed Toffee the second time, Ludo asked me to put him back in the Void so he could find himself some more. He may have made new allies."  
  
"I'm aware of all that already, but the motive behind that theory is still kind-of confusing," Queen Moon says bluntly.  
  
"Mom," Star says, turning to face the Queen. "This is not about my wand anymore. He has his own wand now. He wants something else. We have to find out what."


	3. Joy Ride – chapter three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Queen Moon has never been in a car.

  **QUEEN SLASH FREEWAY**

  **Joy** **Ride** **– c** **hapter** **three**

 

* * *

**"** So how exactly do we find a person who doesn't want to be found? Ludo seems to know how to disappear," Queen Moon says from behind her dressing walls.

Star is staring at her wand.  "Don't know yet. We'll have to figure that out."

Queen Moon steps out from behind the walls. She is wearing a long, dark-blue skirt and her royal blouse with her purple diamond symbol on her chest. She has white cloths covers on her arms that extend from her wrists to just above her elbows.

She turns around dramatically to show Star. "How do I look?"

For the first time in forever, Star smiles genuinely. "Ya look like a Queen."

The Queen lifts her arms slightly and bows. Star does as well.. The two women then share a hug.

"Okay, let's go," says Star."

\- - - -

 

Star takes her dimensional scissors from her hair again and slices the air outside the gates. She disappears inside and reemerges with the white Toyota Camry.

"Get in Mom!" Star says. "I have to get a map of Mewni from the antique store!"

"Who has an antique store with a map?" the Queen wonders aloud.

Star shrugs. " _Some_ body." She starts the car as Queen Moon struggles to fit her large crown into the car. Star grabs the crown by the feathers and throws it in the backseat. "Aw, let's go let's go!"

The void that Star's car was in seals itself up as Star accelerates. Turning left on Gummy Avenue, she notices the Queen out of the corner of her eye, cautiously exploring the car's many tiny interior buttons. The Queen focuses in on one on the ceiling, with a tiny symbol drawn on it that looks like a cute little flame.

"Mommy," says Star. "Please be careful.

Queen Moon gasps. "Why? Is it dangerous?"

"Huh?! No! It isn't!" Star stammers. "Just, if you're gonna touch one, ask me what it is first so I can tell you. Okay? Okay." Star flashes a smile at her mother and then her face expression immediately returns to normal.

"Okay," say the Queen. She waits a couple seconds before pointing at the button in question again and asking, "What is this?"

Star makes a right turn onto Cinnamon Street, also six lanes wide, and says "It's a candle. It helps you see if you're ever in this thing in the dark."

Queen Moon pushes the button and a powerful white light erupts directly to her eyes. She screams and turns off the light, which also extracts a scream from Star, who slams on the brakes. A couple horses who have being following the car are startled by the sound of the screeching tires and break into a frenzied gallop, with their respective drivers trying desperately to remain on their backs and calm them down.

The Queen States wide-eyed at Star. "Sorry."

Star smiles, trying to contain a laugh. She accelerates again, looking at her GPS for the antique store with a map of Mewni.

"So, Star, what do we do to the map once we find it?"

Star's car is one of only about fourteen on this entire half-mile six-lane section of road. The rest are horse-drawn carriages, and due to the size of the city versus the population, the overall number of vehicle is very low.

Star says "We're gonna use it to find all the dimensions that Ludo could be hiding in."

All traffic drives on the right side of a double-yellow line in the center, just like in Mercedes. White dashed lines separate each lane. The only advancement Mewni has not made yet is traffic lights. At every major intersection, a traffic officer must signal to a specific set of vehicles so they may pass.

"Are we sure we want to ride that train?" Queen Moon questions.

"How else are we gonna keep everybody safe?" Star says.

The Queen nods once in acknowledgement, seeing Star's point.

A few or so later, they pull up aside the antique store. Star opens the door and climbs out, taking the car keys with her. Star says "Stay here  Mom, I'll be back in a minute!" She leaves her driver's door open.

Star moves quickly through the tiny store. She goes to a shelf with old papers on it. Exactly one map of Mewni is on the shelf. Star grabs it and takes it to the sparkleier. He scans it and the price is 14 sparkles. Star pays the fine. The man gives her the map. Star gives him a nod of thanks and then leaves the store. No words are spoken and the Star is in and out in less than a minute.

Queen Moon says "Jeez Star, that was fast."

"Yeah. I grabbed the last map in the whole store."

Star closes her door and presses a button in the dashboard, one with a two red triangles on it, a small one inside a larger one. Two green arrow-shaped lights on Star's side of the dashboard start flashing in unison, making tiny clicking sounds. Star then opens up the map.

"Star," says the Queen.

"Yes?"

"What did you just do to your car?"

"I turned the hazard lights on," Star replies.

"Are they dangerous?"

"No Mom, they just warn people of danger. The reason why I turned them on just now is because we're sitting in the car without driving it. A law in Oklahoma says we have to if we aren't actively driving it.

Star notes that the city that surrounds Butterfly Castle occupies the center of the map. According to the map, four public inter-dimensional portals are on the outskirts of the city, two on the south side, one on the east side, and one on the north side. A freeway links each portal to downtown. The portals themselves are marked on the map by with white dots with blue outlines.

"What danger is around us?" Queen Moon presses her daughter, looking around anxiously.

"No danger Mom. Just letting anybody who comes up behind us know that they should proceed cautiously when they pass us."

"Are we ready to go?" days the Queen.

"Yes we are."

Star starts the Camry, turns the hazard lights off, and accelerates.

They are driving southbound on six-lanes-wide Celenia Avenue.

Queen Moon notices a button on the dashboard that has four scythe-shaped symbols on it, arranged in a circle. She presses it and gets hit by a cold wind, which blows the crown off her head and makes her white hair fly all over the car.

"Mom, turn that off!"

Queen Moon obeys with a surprised look. "What? Was? That?"

Star laughs. "That's the air-conditioning. It helps keep you cool if the car is too hot on the inside."

"Oh." The Queen nods slowly and pops her eyebrows up, as if to day "I see".

"How about, ya just, don't touch anything, anymore," says Star.

Queen Moon says "Okay. Sorry."


	4. The Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toffee seems to have a strange thing for freeways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep. Toffee's back. Didn't know how else to introduce him into the story though, so if it looks bad, let me know so I can work on it. Thank you!

 

 

 

**QUEEN SLASH** **FREEWAY**

**The** **Pain** **– chapter four**

_Monday July 29, 2024_

_944am Mewni Time and Central Daylight Time_

* * *

A TALL, LIZARD-LIKE MAN IS standing by the window. He has a broad chest and square shoulders. His hair is glossy black and swept back. He wears a clean, ironed suit and polished black shoes.

He stares out the window of his castle, overlooking a river and the freeway that connects Butterfly Castle to the edge of the Tree dimension.

The castle is simply a massive treehouse, built from ancient oak trees that are so large they cannot be cut down. They have been hollowed out and reenforced, making them a suitable living quarters for bugs, birds, and Monsters.

The lizard hears a sound of soft clothing. He raises his eyebrows, sighs, and turns to face the source of the sound.

A giant fly carrying a stack of pillows is hovering near the bed.

"Okay ya know, I understand that you like to help me out," says the lizard. "But I am pretty capable of doing all that on my own."

"But I'm so bored Master departs" the fly objects. The fly's voice is nasally.

"Aren't we all," says Toffee. "Please get rid of the pillows and come over here.

The fly hovers over to Toffee's side and stares down at the scenery below them.

"Do you know how long I've been standing up here?"

The fly shakes his head, omitting a weird EEEE-RRRR-EEEE-RRRR-EEEE-RRRR sound.

"For a loooonngg, daaaammnn ttiiiimme."

"I don't know what it is with you and freeways Master Toffee."

"I don't like freeways. They're loud. The only reason why we have them on Mewni now is because of the Butterfly alliance with Earth."

"Why do you keeps staring at 'em?"

"Because," says Toffee. "They're kind-of pretty. The whites lines on the black surface. The yellow near the middle stands out perfectly, like a star. The lights of the cars as they move along at neck-breaking speeds."

Toffee nods slightly to reiterate himself. "Oh yeah."

"So you like them?" the fly says.

"Huh? No! What did I just say?" Toffee stammers. "I don't like them. They just . . . " He sighs again. " . . . kind-of pretty."

Toffee looks down at his left hand and rubs his middle finger with his right hand. He concentrates on the area where there once was no finger.

It has been hurting him. It had felt so good to be reunited with it seven years ago. He developed a semiconscious ritual of singling the fingers on his left hand, because he had been so happy to have it back.

Now it just gives him pain. It has been continuing for several years now. He can barely use his left hand now because the pain is spreading.

Toffee walks over to his bed and sits down. "Look after this place for a while for me please. And stay out of here for the time being."

The fly says "Okay."


	5. No Traffic Jams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toffee has to get physical.

  **QUEEN** **SLASH** **FREEWAY**

**No Traffic Jams** **–** **chapter** **five**

1006am CDT

* * *

A CAR HORN BLARES BEHIND him and breaks him out of his daze.

The traffic light is green. Toffee has no clue what it means.

Then he hears an angry voice say, "Go, ya dumbass!"

"Oh," Toffee says to himself. "Green means go. Okay." He accelerates and turns left to cross the overpass, shifting in his seat to give his tail some room.

Toffee has just entered Earth through a portal he discovered near his castle earlier this morning. The portal spat him out onto the Robin Freeway near Exit 17.

He now knows he is in Mercedes, population 944-thousand-850. He also knows that the Robin Freeway goes by another name here: Interstate 340.

Toffee has only been to Earth a handful of times, but never to a city as big as Mercedes. At least all the cars look the same as they do on Mewni. The roads here are bigger and much more crowded than they are on Mewni however. And the drivers are all human, no Monsters.

Toffee likes how alive the city looks. Even if it does look cloudy all the time. Cars jamming up the roads. Buildings sitting tall and proud. Trees swaying in the wind. People walking around, conversing with each other. He can even see the  towers of Downtown Mercedes from eight miles away.

"Maybe I should come here more often," he says to himself.

Toffee comes to another traffic light. This one is red.

"Too bad they don't have those things on Mewni," he remarks. The angry motorist, driving a massive Dodge Ram 1600, is still behind Toffee's green Cadillac Escalade. The driver is revving his engine.

"You better hope I don't step out of this car," the driver yells. Toffee can hear him through his rolled-up windows.

The light turns green and Toffee accelerates. The Ford is driving a little too close for Toffee's liking. Toffee is starting to regret wanting to come here.

He sees a sign for Walmart and makes a right turn into the parking lot, with the Ford driving on his ass.

"Yeah! _Whoooo_! I'm comin' fer you!" screams the Ford driver.

Toffee bumps his eyebrows up quickly, not wanting to deal with him, but at the same time feeling a little eager to see where this encounter is going.

Toffee picks a spot near the front doors, being careful of the two cars on either side of him. The Ford screeches to a stop directly behind him, blocking his parking spot.

Both drivers step out of their vehicles. The driver is tall, taller than Toffee, and looks stronger too. Toffee is not fazed however.

Toffee focuses on walking into the store. The man walks briskly and yanks Toffee's shoulder, causing him to whirl around face-to-face.

The other driver is slightly surprised at what he sees only for a second, showing it with a slight head tilt and a frown, but then his anger returns.

Toffee raises his eyebrows up quickly once, as if to say hi.

"Ya know, there's a _reason_ why we have traffic jams," says the other driver.

"Yeah," Toffee says with no enthusiasm. He turns back around and walks towards the doors.

The human grabs Toffee's shoulder again. "And I think you should learn how to drive."

Toffee faces him. "I _do_ know how to drive. Why else would I have a car?"

"Hey big man," snarls the man. "You don't get to be like that. You can't be causing a traffic jam like that and then just get away with it."

"I don't get to be like what?" Toffee looks around dramatically with his hand shielding his eyes, pretending to search for a traffic jam. "Don't see any traffic jams, nice try though." Toffee turns again and walks towards the doors.

The driver jumps in front of him. The two are in the large crosswalk near the doors.

"I wouldn't recommend hindering my steps again," Toffee says calmly.

"Whatcha gonna do tough bro?"

"Something painful."

Toffee moves the man aside with his tail and begins walking again. Suddenly he feels an impact in his chest. He is surprised at first. He looks down at his chest and sees the angry driver's fist, having punched all the way through.

"Hm, _this_ looks familiar," says Toffee.

The man removes his fist in shock. He looks at Toffee, then at his fist, then Toffee again.

Toffee looks over his shoulder at the man. "Have you learned nothing?"

In a fraction of a second, Toffee's tail whips the buff man's chest, sending him flying towards a row of parked cars. The man's momentum alone destroys every car in the row. Car alarms blare loudly, and glass shatters and flies around. A couple cars explode, creating many more shards of metal, tires, and glass. People are running and screaming or throwing themselves at the asphalt, thinking they are under attack.

The man is dead.

Toffee shakes his head in mock wonder. "Nobody likes to listen to advice anymore."


	6. Just Toffee

 

 

**QUEEN SLASH FREEWAY**  
**Just Toffee – chapter six**

Monday July 29, 2024  
1026am Central Daylight Time

* * *

  
Once inside the Walmart, Toffee forgets why he even came here.  
  
“That’s just great,” he says to himself.  
  
He looks around. Humans are everywhere. Huge blue-and-white signs are hanging from the high ceiling, telling Toffee where he is in the store. He is near the Grocery vestibule.  
  
“Uuuumm . . . hungry. Uh, food,” Toffee says.  
"Probably shouldn’t spend too much time in here."  
  
He walks over to a self-checkout lane, bypassing a man standing nearby. Toffee glances at the man, who is staring at him with an unimpressed look.  
  
Toffee scrolls his eyes up and down the shelf, looking for something to eat, having not eaten anything yet today. He can feel the shopper's eyes on him. He looks again at the staring man.  
  
Toffee tilts his head defensively. “Never seen a Monster before have ya?”  
  
The shopper shakes his head and says “Nope.”  
  
Toffee flexes his eyebrows up. “Should get used to it.” With that, Toffee continues looking for a snack.  
  
“Too many delicious decisions,” Toffee mutters to himself, bending down to see the bottom row. “Milky Way, Three Musketeers, Payday, _oooooohh_ , Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups sound good.” He grabs a four-pack of peanut butter cups and stands up, reaching into his wallet to pay for them.  
  
Toffee is not a fan of large touchscreen devices. His phone he can deal with. Anything bigger than a shoebox does not work worth his claws. The self-checkout screen was a pain in Toffee's ass to use.  
  
“Those things are not worth the time and effort it took to build them,” Toffee says to himself. He takes his candy and his receipt and walks toward the door.  
  
He takes a step and then he feels a sharp pain in his tail. He turns around, walking backwards now, to face a woman who has a surprised look on her face.  
  
Toffee raises both arms about halfway, a gesture that means <What the hell>, and says to the woman, “Do you mind?”  
  
The woman shakes her head.  
  
“Then please keep your distance, because if you step on my tail again, we're gonna have some problems.”  
  
The woman's gaze darts from Toffee's reptilian face, to his long tail, then back to his face, while both of her index fingers follow her gaze.  
  
Toffee turns back around and hands the receipt to the another woman to check. “Here you go ma’am.”  
  
“Thank you sir,” she replies with wide eyes. While checking the receipt, the woman keeps sneaking glances at Toffee's face.  
  
“Sorry,” she stammers. “It’s just, I've never, seen um, a, like lizard, as, as big as, you know, you.”  
  
“It's alright,” Toffee says. “I’ve been getting a similar look quite a bit lately.”  
  
She gives Toffee back his receipt. “Here you go sir.”  
“Thank you ma’am,” Toffee says with a nod of courtship.  
  
Toffee starts to walk out the sliding doors when the woman calls out to him. “Excuse me sir?”  
  
Toffee whirls around to face her.  
  
“What’s your, your name?”  
  
“My name’s Toffee.”  
  
“Is that a first name, or, or last name?”  
  
Toffee smiles and opens his candy. “Just Toffee.”


	7. Walmart Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is one of those moments when one realises, "Shit's 'bout to hit the fan."

 

**QUEEN** **SLASH** **FREEWAY**

**Walmart** **Battle –** **chapter** **7**

* * *

 

Toffee calmly walks outside the building. The black smoke from the burning cars is filling the sky. He can hear sirens and a helichopper approaching.

He arrives at his Suv and get in. He pops a second peanut-butter cup in between his jaws and rolls the windows down to let the sun hit him better.

A minute passes an he catches sight of two fire engines screeching into the parking lot on the far side. Another explosion rocks the place, and Toffee smiles.

He does not notice the police officer walking up to his car.

The officer knocks on the hood of the Suv. "Hello sir. Could you step out the car for me please?"

Toffee turns his head briefly and gives the officer an annoyed look. "Nope." He rolls the windows up.

The officer removes his radio and says into it, "Suspect is a human-sized adult salamander. He is uncooperative. Stand by." He then removes a black pistol from its holster. Other officers that have heard the message are approaching now.

The policeman says again, "Sir, this is Mercedes Police. You need to get out of your car right now."

Another officer, who is somewhere nearby but out of sight from the first officer, says <Arkens, confirm suspect identity please.>

Arkens says, "Human-sized salamander. He is not cooperating."

<Stand by, we're comin'.>

A crowd of shoppers is taking shape near the doors to the store. Many of them are filming the unfolding spectacle with their phones.

Toffee looks up again at the policeman outside his car, having finished the candy. With a sigh he opens the door and climbs back out.

Arkens relays onto the radio, "Suspect is outside, hold your fire."

<Copy copy.>

"What's your name sir?"

Toffee is a full foot taller than Arkens.

"Toffee."

"I need your full name sir, first and last."

Toffee takes quick note of his surroundings. Arkens, the policeman he is talking to, has a gun. The others who are closing in behind Arkens probably do too. The civilians are standing around watching and filming.

He sighs. "Just Toffee."

"Can I ask you a couple questions?"

Toffee slowly crouches down so that his eyes are level with the gun in the policeman's holster. Then he slowly rises back up without a word.

"Mister, you need to start being compliant."

Toffee notices a tiny device wedged into the officer's ear. He looks past the officer and sees the rest of the policemen reaching slowly for their own weapons.

"You do not wanna make me be compliant."

Arkens has a confused frown.

In a blazing-fast motion, Toffee grabs the officer's chest with his left hand, lifts him up, and punches him.

Arkens yelps in pain and flies backwards slamming into a different car. He yelps again on impact. One of the other officers yells " _Whooooaaaa_!"

And a female voice orders " _FIRE_!"

Bullets and screams fill the air.

Toffee feels small impacts hit his chest and arms, tearing holes into into his suit and skin. He calmly walks directly toward the next closest policeman he can see.

The policeman yells "Oh shit!"

Toffee launches a fist at his face. He ducks and yells "Hold your fire!" Then he leaps at Toffee, toppling him to the asphalt. Toffee lands on his back with the officer on top of him. He flexes his tail to deflect a punch from the man, then Toffee plants his feet on the man's chest and rolls backwards, catapulting him away. His body hits a car.

Toffee then leaps to his feet and sprits toward another police officer. He chops the officer's arm off with his left hand, causing him to scream, then he applies a powerful palm strike with his right hand to the officer's chest. The officer flies backwards toward the doors of the store. The doors shatter and the crowd disperses in terror.

By this time the Walmart's security personnel are mobilizing. Toffee leaps toward a handicapped parking sign and grabs it with both hands, letting his body's momentum swing him around it. The sign is ripped out of the ground. Toffee kicks another man back while in midair. He uses his tail to spring his body back upright and starts wielding the uprooted sign as a weapon. He knocks four people to the ground in four seconds, while five of the remaining six policeman retreat inside.

The female police officer has defiantly stayed outside, determined to take Toffee out with her guns. Soon, both of her guns are empty, and she is cornered by the giant lizard advancing on her. As she stares at him, she whimpers, "Oh no."

Somebody yells "Hey lizard!"

 

At the last second, a knife implants itself into his shoulder, and Toffee roars in pain for the first time during this battle. He clutches the area where the knife has gone into him. While Toffee is distracted, the policewoman retreats inside as well.

The civilian who threw the knife is now running for cover inside the store. Toffee yanks the knife out of his shoulder and hurls it at the man, but it misses. The knife sails just inches away from the man's back and pierces a propane tank that is stacked with others next to the doors.

The resulting explosion is massive, blowing a gigantic jagged hole in the wall and the roof, which starts to collapse. Screams ring out from inside before being silenced. Cars that are close to the door get blasted outwards by the shockwave, and all glass surfaces within three blocks are shattered.

Toffee feels a falling sensation and then dark silence.


	8. Realizing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh no, that's horrible news.

 

 

**QUEEN** **SLASH** **FREEWAY**

**Realizing –** **chapter** **8**

* * *

 

STAR KNOCKS ON THE makeshift door. A little frog opens it, and her face lights up with joy. "Star!"

"Katrina!"

Katrina hops into Star's arms. "Oh I missed you! How ya been how ya been?!"

"I've been good," says Star, beaming with newfound delight for the first time in years.

Katrina jumps back to the ground and takes a bow. "Welcome, Queen Moon!"

The Queen smiles. "Thank you, young lady."

"What can I do for you?" Katrina gushes.

"Actually, we need to talk to your daddy," Star says. "Is he available?"

Katrina's face scrunches up as she thinks. "Eehh, he should be? I don't know, I'll check."

Katrina then turns her back towards Star and Queen Moon, before yelling into the house,

" _Hey Sergei_!"

Thumps coming from the upstairs floor are growing louder. The footsteps descend the stairs rapidly and then –

"Ow!"

An entertainment center on the far wall shakes as Sergei crashes into it head-first.

"Yep. That hurt."

Katrina giggles, then says to Star and Queen Moon, "He always crashes into our entertainment center like that because – " as she turns back towards Sergei – "HE WON'T QUIT JUMPING DOWN THE STAIRS."

"Aahh, don't be like that," Sergei says as he brushes his black hoodie off. "Whatchu need?"

As soon as Sergei sees Star, he screams with pure happiness. "Star!"

"Hi Sergei!"

Sergei runs across the living room towards Star and then leaps. He and Star bonk their heads together and Sergei lands back to the ground. "You came back! This is awesome! How ya been how ya been?!"

"I've been good," Star beams, noting the two siblings' similar greetings.

Sergei bows to the Queen with his arms away from his sides. "Hello Queen Moon!"

"Hello little man," says the Queen, bowing as well. "You're both getting very big."

"We are?!" the siblings say in unison. " _Awessoooomme_!"

Star grabs the top of Sergei's head with her thumb and index finger, turning him to face her. "Hey Sergei. Where that daddy at?"

Sergei's eyes narrow up as he sinks into thought. "Ummm, I don't know?"

"Aw dang," Katrina says. "I only called you down here 'cause I thought you knew where he was at." She puffs out her lower lip, pretending to be sad.

"My bad," Sergei squeaks.

All four people suddenly hear a rustling noise coming front the back of the house. A gruff voice calls, "I'm home!"

"Daddy!" Katrina and Sergei disappear towards the kitchen to go ambush their father.

A large, pear-shaped frog appears in the arch to the kitchen with both children on his face. "Ah, I can't see! Where am I? Somebody turned off the lights!"

When Yevgeny finally does bump into the kitchen table, Katrina and Sergei jump onto it, laughing their heads off.

"Oh my big kids," he says to them with a big, proud smile. Then he notices Star, and his mouth hangs open. "Star Butterfly?"

"Hi Buff-Frog," Star says with a wide smile.

Star walks up to him and gives him a tight hug, which he returns. Both of them have their eyes closed, savoring the moment.

"I thought I'd never see you again," Yevgeny says. "I have been so worried about you."

"Me too," says Star. "Well, me too, I have been worried about you."

Yevgeny steps back to take a bow before Queen Moon. "It is pleasure to see you again Queen Moon."

The Queen smiles and takes a small bow to acknowledge his. "The feeling's mutual my friend."

The siblings are hopping up and down next to their father, looking from him to the two women and back to him.

"I had to take rest of my kids to school. Uh, what is it you need today Queen Moon?" says Yevgeny.

The smiles on Star's and Queen Moon's faces fade, and the seriousness returns, which Yevgeny can feel.

Star sighs. "Ludo, escaped from the Void. I thought it was supposed to keep him there, but . . . that didn't happen."

Yevgeny looks unfazed. "Are you sure it is not just Toffee's soul in Ludo's body?"

Queen Moon speaks. "No, I'm afraid. Toffee would have made himself known if that were the case."

"What is wrong?" Yevgeny says.

"We don't know," says Star. "We just know that something happened to us this morning, and we could sense something was bad. This is what Mewman people call a Shiver."

Yevgeny nods. "I have heard of that before. I studied it. That doesn't happen to everybody, you know. Shivers are connected by magic, and only powerful person can do something that is significant enough to give people a Shiver."

Star's eyes narrow up as she thinks, and then she gasps softly. "Oh no."

Queen Moon looks at her daughter. "What is it?"

Star faces her. "I – I don't think Ludo's who caused the Shiver."

"What do you mean?"

"Ludo has no magic. He can't generate a Shiver. By definition the only person who can are people with magic, like you, and me."

Queen Moon's face turns stark white. "And Eclipsa."


End file.
